It’s official. Dallas Theater Center‘s 2025 Centerstage 41: Take A Bow has all its players … rather, peformers … in place. Returning to Fashion Industry Gallery (F.I.G.), the fundraiser has Hamilton Sneed doing an encore as its chair.
According to Hamilton, the fundraiser will showcase “those working behind the scenes and onstage, as they ‘take a bow’ for making theater happen.”
With a cabaret-jazz buzz, the evening of Friday, May 2, will kick off with a Lallier champagne reception “highlighting many of the Public Works education and community engagement programs, followed by a seated supper and program.”
In addition to a live auction, there will be a performance by members of the Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company.
The highlight of the evening will be presentation of the Linda and Bill Custard Award to DTC actor/director/choreographer/artistic director Joel Ferrell, who started his relationship with DTC back in 1992 as an actor in “A Christmas Carol.”
According to DTC Executive Director/CEO Kevin Moriarty, “It gives me great joy to recognize Joel Ferrell as the recipient of the 2025 Linda and Bill Custard Award. For more than three decades Joel has been a leading artist at Dallas Theater Center and one of the most significant theater makers at theater throughout North Texas. He has been equally impactful through his education work at DTC, where he has inspired emerging artists of all ages. In his current work as the Inaugural Director of the Sexton Institute for Musical Theater at SMU, Joel is launching a thrilling new degree program that will transform musical theater throughout Dallas and the country.”
During his three decades at DTC, Joel acted in “The Front Page,” choreographed “My Fair Lady” and directed his DTC production (“Cotton Patch Gospel”) in 2003. Six years later he joined the DTC staff as associate artist and served as associate artistic director from 2011-2019.
In addition to his work with DTC, he has served as artistic director at Casa Manana from 1996 to 2001, plus working with the Denver Center Theater, Portland Center Stage, North Shore Music Theater, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and other professional theaters and education institutions in North Texas.
Tickets and sponsorships are available here.
* Photo provided by Dallas Theater Center